Proper guidance and an open ear critical for runaway kids: youth worker

Don Meikle said when youths are reported missing, they're usually either running away from something or running to something.

Meikle, the executive director of Egadz Youth Centre in Saskatoon, sees youths who run away from home — many of whom have been reported missing to the police — come through the centre's doors on a daily basis.

"A lot of time they're running to family, running from a placement or they feel they're not being listened to. They don't feel they have any control in their life," Meikle said.

Amended legislation that went into effect on Friday will help Saskatchewan officers to search buildings, access information and demand records in missing persons cases where no crime is suspected.

"When a person is reported missing and there is no reason to suspect a crime, police cannot rely on the Criminal Code to access personal information of persons reported missing," the provincial government said in a press release on Friday.

"This could stall a missing person investigation."

There are thousands of missing persons reports each year in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan RCMP received 272 missing person reports In the first two months of this year and 2,206 in all of 2018.

The Regina Police Service was kept busy in 2018, with 2,379 reports last year involving 860 different people, 578 of which were under the age of 18.

Meikle said the amended legislation is another tool in the toolbox for police. The updates to The Missing Persons and Presumption of Death Amendment Act came into effect Friday.

Egadz runs Operation Runaway, an outreach program for youths in Saskatoon that involves frequent communication between youths and the police.

"It's been extremely successful with police because it's all based on real relationships with the young people, where the police build their relationships and credibility with the with the kids that are running away," Meikle said. 

"Now, after a year and a half, we've had it where the kids are, if the police aren't here at the circle, they're wondering where they are and why they're not there."

With the new rules, police are now able to obtain search orders for buildings where a missing child or vulnerable person is believed to be.

"Quite often friends or family will hide these young people and police won't have access [to a home] ... and they're right behind the door," Meikle explained.

Police will also be able to access information such as global positioning tracking records, employment records and school records. They'll also be able to access information about someone who may be in the company of a missing child or vulnerable person.

They'll also be able to make an emergency demand for records where certain criteria are met, such as if police believe the person may be in danger, if access to the records may assist authorities in finding someone before they come to harm or it is not practicable to obtain a record access order given the urgency of the circumstances.

"What the kids really want is to to have a say in where they were they're being placed," Meikle said. 

"Kids want to be heard and kids want our guidance and assistance to help make good decisions."